If I use 'Restore' in PSE 9 to copy my photos to a new PC, will all my sub-categories also be copied over from the five back-up DVDS?

In the instructions for 'Restore' under PSE 9 Help, it states that, "the last disc should be inserted on request', or similar wording. Surely I should put in each of my five discs starting with disc one?

If I use 'Restore' in PSE 9 to copy my photos to a new PC, will all my sub-categories also be copied over from the five back-up DVDS?

In the instructions for 'Restore' under PSE 9 Help, it states that, "the last disc should be inserted on request', or similar wording. Surely I should put in each of my five discs starting with disc one?

The backup restores the catalog entirely. The sub-categories will be restored as well as the keywords, albums and so on. I don't use CD/DVDs for backup and restore, but I can tell you that the backup process first copies and renames all picture files in the backup folder : B0000001.jpg etc. After all picture files have been saved in this special format, the catalog itself (the sqlite database named catalog.pse9db) is finally copied, then the special catalog.tly backup file in which the links between the backup copies and the real ones are kept is created at the very end of the process.

That means that the catalog (database) must be stored on the last CD/DVD with the necessary catalog.tly file for the restore.

Thank you to Jeff for moving my query; I thought I'd put it in the PSE forum.

Thanks to Michel too, although I'm afraid it's all gone a bit technical, for me. Can you confirm that really all I need to do is use 'Restore' then feed the five discs in, starting with one and ending with disc five? I'd be thrilled if the photos were then to reappear on my new PC, organised as I had them on my old PC.

Thanks to Michel too, although I'm afraid it's all gone a bit technical, for me. Can you confirm that really all I need to do is use 'Restore' then feed the five discs in, starting with one and ending with disc five? I'd be thrilled if the photos were then to reappear on my new PC, organised as I had them on my old PC.

Well, that is something I have done so many times that I no longer get thrilled about it

I understand that you may need some help to begin with. Here is a good explanation:

The link didn't work ("Page unavailable.") but I have read these instructions before in fact. I was very puzzled by the statement that the last disc should be put inserted, once in 'Restore'. I wonder if what is meant is the disc from the last back-up or in my case, a set of five discs? I originally read this as meaning that only the last of my five discs should be inserted, but then I'd be missing four discs full of my photos.

The link didn't work ("Page unavailable.") but I have read these instructions before in fact. I was very puzzled by the statement that the last disc should be put inserted, once in 'Restore'. I wonder if what is meant is the disc from the last back-up or in my case, a set of five discs? I originally read this as meaning that only the last of my five discs should be inserted, but then I'd be missing four discs full of my photos.

The link works for me...

My explanation (without testing it on DVDs or CDs) is that there is a logical order to write a backup, and that the last media is needed to make the catalog copy and the .tly file available to the restore process. Of course, all disks are necessary for the restore. Logically the restore process should prompt which disk is needed at each stage of the restore...

What I can't imagine is what happens when you are using CDs and the size of the catalog.pse9db plus catalog.tly is more than the last CD size ?

I deleted PSE 9 from my PC before carrying out some other activities to try and make it run faster, things having gone very slow indeed. All seemed well, so I re-installed PSE 9. To my surprise, the photos I copied a few weeks ago from my old H/D are all present!? How can this be, given that I haven't copied my photos across again from the old H/D nor have I used the 'Restore' function? I suppose there is a logical explanation but it all seems most odd.

Further, re-installing PSE 9 seems to have slowed everything down again. Is there a known conflict between it and Vista, by any chance? Would up-grading to the latest version get round the problem?